by James hmv London, 20/01/2014Bio"Like the legend of the Phoenix, I've just eaten a whole packet of chocolate HobNobs..."
Editor, hmv.com

White House Down: What You Need To Know

With films like Independence Day, 2012 and The Day After Tomorrow under his belt, Roland Emmerich is a director that specialises in disaster. For his latest outing, the threat to civilisation comes not from aliens or the weather, but a group of paramilitary terrorists who storm the White House and bring the complex under siege.

Who’s in it?

There are starring roles for Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx, as well as appearances from Maggie Gylllenhaal, Jason Clarke and James Woods.

What’s the plot?

John Cale (Tatum) is a police officer and former soldier who is looking to land his dream job as a Secret Service officer at the White House. He takes his daughter along to the job interview, where he is told he lacks some of the required skills and experience for the role. Not wanting to disappoint his daughter, he takes her on a tour of the White House complex. Then things start to go wrong…

An explosion triggers panic and the Secret Service swing into action, moving the president (Foxx) down to the White House underground bunker, but it transpires they have been infiltrated and before long Cale is trapped in the complex with a dilemma: he must somehow find a way to protect the president, and save his daughter from the terrorist group led by Stenz (Clarke).

As you might expect from a director like Emmerich, this is a high-octane, action-packed thriller with lots of explosions. While it’s not the kind of film that dwells too much on character depth, the performances are pretty great, and what it lacks in plot complexity it more than makes up for in sheer, white-knuckle-ride entertainment.